The disclosure relates generally to a pad assembly and more particularly to a floor grinding pad apparatus.
It is known to use fibrous pads for polishing and grinding floors within industrial or commercial buildings. Such polishing or grinding pads are ideally suited for use on concrete, terrazzo, and natural (e.g., marble), engineered and composite stone floors. Examples of such pads and the powered machines used to rotate such can be found in the following U.S. patents and patent publication numbers: 2011/0300784 entitled “Flexible and Interchangeable Multi-Head Floor Polishing Disk Assembly” which was invented by Tchakarov et al. and published on Dec. 8, 2011; U.S. Pat. No. 9,174,326 entitled “Arrangement For Floor Grinding” which issued to Ahonen on Nov. 3, 2015; U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,886 entitled “Multiple Abrasive Assembly and Method” which issued to Rivard et al. on May 22, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,493 entitled “Stone Polishing Apparatus and Method” which issued to Donatelli et al. on Feb. 25, 1997; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,245 entitled “Combination of Cleaning Pads, Cleaning Pad Mounting Members and a Base Member for a Rotary Cleaning Machine” which issued to Coty on Oct. 8, 1991. All of these patents and the patent publication are incorporated by reference herein.
Notwithstanding, improved floor grinding performance is desired. Furthermore, some of these prior constructions exhibit uneven wear in use which prematurely destroy the pads or cause inconsistent polishing or grinding. Moreover, floor unevenness and cracks may create only partial contact with abrasive grinding members, thereby adding extra grinding time and causing uneven grinding with some prior rigid devices.
In accordance with the present invention, a workpiece abrading pad apparatus is provided. In one aspect, a grinding pad apparatus employs a flexible pad, a flexible metallic reinforcement layer or ring, and multiple floor-grinding disks. In another aspect, a metallic reinforcement ring includes a central hole through which a fiber or foam pad is accessible. Another aspect employs a spring steel reinforcement ring to which multiple diamond-based abrasive disks or dots are attached. In yet another aspect, at least one floor-contacting disk attached to a reinforcement ring includes sintered powdered metal with diamond particles mixed therein. A further aspect employs abrasive, floor-contacting disks or dots including posts or mechanical fasteners extending from backsides thereof for attachment to a reinforcing ring or layer. A method of making a grinding pad apparatus is also presented.
The present pad assembly is advantageous over traditional devices. For example, the flexible metallic reinforcement layer or ring of the present pad apparatus advantageously allows greater and more even floor contact over worn areas and cracks due to disk-to-disk flexibility, which is expected to improve grinding performance. Furthermore, the disk post and method of manufacturing the apparatus advantageously provide a more secure attachment of components. The flexible metallic reinforcement ring, in combination with sintered powdered metal and diamond disks, provide enhanced durability during the grinding operation which is a much harsher, jarring and vibration-prone operating condition than for polishing or honing. Additional advantages and features of the present invention will be readily understood from the following description, claims and appended drawings.